Valentine Hugo

Biography

1897 - 1968

Early Life & Career

French painter and illustrator.

Born: 1897 in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France

Died: 1968 in Paris, France

Studied painting in Paris. In 1919, she married Jean Hugo, great-grandson of Victor Hugo.

Eugenie de Franval by Victor Hugo

Book illustration by Valentine Hugo

Theatrical Collaborations

Collaborated with Jean Hugo on designs for the ballet, including Jean Cocteau's Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel (1921).

In 1926, she executed twenty-four wood engravings after maquettes by Jean Hugo for Romeo and Juliet.

Joining the Surrealists

Met the Surrealists around 1928 and actively participated in the movement between 1930 and 1936.

Major Works & Illustrations

The foremost illustrator of Paul Éluard's work, she first exhibited with the Surrealists in the Salon des Surindépendants of 1933.

Her many illustrations include:

Lautréamont, Chants de Maldoror (1933)
Achim d'Arnim, Contes Bizarres (1933)
Rimbaud, Les Poètes de Sept Ans (1939)
Éluard, Les Animaux et Leurs Hommes (1937)

Personal Life & Relationships

Valentine Hugo shifted her allegiance to the Surrealist group around 1929. Briefly linked romantically with Éluard and Breton, she continued to illustrate Éluard's work until his death. Married to Jean Hugo until 1929, she was the first woman to enter the Surrealist orbit with a professional reputation as an artist already established.

She was a major visual interpreter of Surrealist texts. In an interview published later in her life, she recalled the support and encouragement provided by her friendships with Éluard, Breton, and other Surrealists.

Legacy

A retrospective exhibition of her work was held at the Centre Culturel Thibaud de Champagne, Troyes, in 1977.

She was a wonderful, incisive artist who deserves to be better well-known today than she is. Forget the surname; just think of the body of work...

Exhibitions: Tenerife (1935), Copenhagen (1935), New York (1937), Tokyo (1937).

Further Reading: Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement

Gallery

VALENTINE HUGO

Nusch Éluard, Valentine Hugo

c. 1934

Photo: Timothy Baum

More info: Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement

Surrealist Object

1931

Valentine Hugo

Leather, wood. Present location unknown. Photograph reproduced in Le Surréalisme au Service de la Révolution, no. 3, December 1931.

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Source: Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement

Dream of 21 December 1929

1929

Valentine Hugo

Oil on canvas. Present location unknown. Photograph reproduced in International Kunstudstilling, Kubisme-Surrealisme, Copenhagen, 1935.

Source: Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement

Valentine Hugo

1931

Photo: Man Ray

Source: Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement

Collage of members of the Surrealist group

1934

Valentine Hugo

Valentine Hugo dedicated her collage of members of the Surrealist group to Jacqueline Lamba Breton.

Thanks to Cyril: It seems that Valentine Hugo took the pictures from this catalogue: Livres et Publications Surréalistes: andrebreton.fr

So the full list is: René Crevel, Salvador Dalí, Paul Éluard, Max Ernst, Benjamin Péret, Tristan Tzara, Pierre Unik, Luis Buñuel, André Breton and René Char.

Present location unknown. Formerly collection of Jean Petithory, Paris.

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Source: Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement